It’s approaching that fuzzy-feeling time of year again - when the annual International Woolmark Prize winner is announced. For 2015, the award will chosen from five finalists, after a mass fashion show in Beijing on March 17. All are women’s wear designers - representatives from each of the world’s major continents - and each hope to showcase their best creations using wool.
The finalists for 2015 are Augustin Teboul from Germany; VMAJOR from China; Bird on a Wire from Lebanon; Strateas.Carlucci from Australia and M.Patmos from the United States. Each were selected during regional finals held in Asia, Australia, Europe, India and the Middle East, and the USA earlier on in the competition last year.
The awards are linked to promoting Australian Merino wool in fashion. First held in 1953 as an initiative of the International Wool Secretariat, it was in 1954 that both Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent were deemed winners, catapulting them, and the award itself, into the spotlight.
Fizzling out over time, the prize was brought back to the fashion scene just three years ago. Rahul Mishra claimed the prize last year, and NY’s Public School was named the winner of the first Woolmark prize for men during New York fashion week. As well as wool, the event promotes the new breed of savvy designers emerging from across the globe, with some 60 designers from more than 20 countries getting this year.
Judges for the Beijing finals include Victoria Beckham; Angelica Cheung, editor at large, Vogue China; Franca Sozzani, editor in chief of Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue; Colin McDowell, fashion journalist; Anita Barr, group fashion buying director, Harvey Nichols; Colleen Sherin, vice president, fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue; Justin O’Shea, buying director, Mytheresa.com; Malcolm Carfrae, global head of communications, public relations and media at Ralph Lauren Corp., and Sophie Clark, women’s wear general manager, David Jones.
Let’s meet the final five finalists.
VMajor - China
Designers Victor Zhu and Nicole Lin learned their craft at separate design
schools in London and met while interning at Vivienne Westwood. After
graduating in 2006, the duo returned to Shenzhen, where they launched VMAJOR,
which draws on their cultural origins but with an international commerciality. The
label was invited by the British Fashion council to present their spring summer
2013 collection during London Fashion Week in 2012.
Strateas.Carlucci - Australia
Australian designers Peter Strateas and Mario Luca Carlucci, launched their
label, Strateas.Carlucci, in 2013. Tech fabrics, sharp lines and tailored
construction flesh out the bones of each collection. Already winners of the Tiffany
& Co National Designer Award in 2014, the label’s vision is to create
garments that are timeless through minimalism and sub-cultural references, with
every garment having a handcrafted element.
Augustin Teboul - Germany
The Franco-German duo, Odély Teboul and Annelie Augustin, graduated in 2006
with honours at ESMOD Paris. Annelie went on to work for Yohji Yamamoto for
Adidas and Odély for Jean Paul Gaultier. In 2010, Surrealism took their
inspiration to the cloth, working different shades of black into their moody
designs for women.
Bird On A Wire - Lebanon
Lebanese designer Rayya Morcos was an apprenticeship at Maison Rabih Kayrouz. She
studied at ESMOD in Beirut, and re-joined the Maison, where she was head of
design from 2006 to 2011. In 2009, she founded Bird on a Wire – a label big on architectural
perplexity, 3-D shapes and new technology. Her materials reflect this contemporary
use of natural fiber for futurism in fashion.
M. Patmos - United States
Launched by designer Marcia Patmos in 2011, M. Patmos plays with both neutral
and bright, graphic color palettes, mixed materials and textures, and drape and
tailoring. Big on details in fabric, most clothes have a utilitarian function to
their wear but remain elegant by their wools and natural fabrics.